Depleted glutathione

[Guest guest]

Our son, who has had a horrific experience with re-exposure, was put

on glutathione cream along with other nutrients. He's doing much

better - perhaps this research explains why.

Mycotoxin-induced depletion of intracellular glutathione and altered

cytokine production in the human alveolar epithelial cell line

A549star, open

L.N. Johannessena, Corresponding Author Contact Information, E-mail

The Corresponding Author, A.M. Nilsena and M. Løvika, b

aDepartment of Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of

Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7489

Trondheim, Norway bDivision of Environmental Medicine, Norwegian

Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway

Received 16 July 2006; revised 30 October 2006; accepted 2 November

2006. Available online 15 November 2006.

Abstract

Mould exposure has been associated with asthma and other inflammatory

airway conditions. However, cellular effects of inhaled mould

components are not well understood. We hypothesised that host defence

mechanisms, such as production of cytokines (TGF & #946;1, IL-6 and IL-8) and

the intracellular antioxidant glutathione (GSH), could be adversely

affected by different concentrations of mycotoxins. We studied the

effects of citrinin and gliotoxin on lipopolysaccharide

(LPS)-stimulated alveolar epithelial cells (A549). Cytokines in cell

culture supernatants were analysed by ELISA and levels of GSH were

measured by colorimetric (absorbance) determination. We found that GSH

decreased in a dose- and time-dependent manner when cells were exposed

to citrinin in particular. TGF & #946;1 was moderately reduced at low

mycotoxin concentrations but elevated at higher sub-toxic

concentrations. A tendency for an inverse relationship between TGF & #946;1

and GSH levels was observed. IL-6 and IL-8 were not significantly

reduced at non-toxic mycotoxin concentrations. Thus, reduced

epithelial GSH and TGF & #946;1 levels combined with elevated IL-6 and IL-8

levels may result in increased pro-inflammatory activity during

mycotoxin exposure. We suggest that this mechanism can contribute to

inflammation in mould exposure.

Keywords: Indoor moulds; Mycotoxins; Inflammation; Oxidative stress;

Cytokines

star, openThis work was done at the Department of Cancer Research and

Molecular Medicine.

Corresponding Author Contact InformationCorresponding author. Tel.:

+47 73 59 89 28; fax: +47 73 59 88 01.